Miami Heat Undecided To Offer Jimmy Butler Extension – Basketball Insiders

Pat Riley has never been one to mince words. Even his famous players. The president of the Miami Heat recently made a comment about his star player, Jimmy Butler, which caused an uproar in the NBA. Butler's future with the Heat organization is up in the air after what Riley said about the possibility of adding him.

“We haven't discussed that internally yet,” Riley said. “We have to look at such commitment and when we do it. We don't have to do it until 2025 actually. But we will see. We haven't made a decision about it, and we haven't had a serious discussion about it.”

Riley also wasn't a fan of Butler's comments after the Heat took a game from the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs.

“I thought, “Is that Jimmy kidding or is Jimmy serious?” “If you're not on the field playing against Boston or on the field playing against the New York Knicks, you should shut up about criticizing those teams,” said Riley.

All in all, Butler's future with Miami is up in the air after Pat Riley's statements.

Miami Heat Uncertain About Giving Jimmy Butler Contract Extension

Jimmy Butler's season

Despite being in and out of the lineup due to nagging injuries this past season, Jimmy Butler still had a solid year. He averaged 20.8 points, 1.3 steals, 5.3 total rebounds, and 5.0 assists per game. Butler also shot 49.9 percent from the field to go along with a career-best 41.4 percent three-point shooting percentage in 60 games played. Not to mention, the six-time All-Star put up a 129 offensive rating, a 22.0 efficiency rating, and a 4.6 plus/minus box rating on the season. Butler still had an All-Star-like season, but the Heat were once again a playoff team. Without Butler in the playoffs this time, they couldn't go on another Cinderella run to the NBA Finals.

Is it time for Miami to enter a Rebuilding Phase?

While the Heat had two NBA Finals appearances during Butler's tenure, they lost both times. In addition, they have found themselves playing for two years in a row now. Miami has a dynamic duo of Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, but they are flirting with “no man's land,” in the NBA landscape. Not good enough to be the top seed in the playoffs, but not bad enough to get a quality pick in the NBA Draft. Pat Riley seems to know this and has some tough decisions ahead of him. If Miami continues to be a playoff team, then a rebuilding process is out of the question. As we saw with Pat Riley, no matter who you are, the Heat's culture will always come first.